Socceroo Internationals for 1988

Written by Thomas Esamie, Greg Stock and Jean-Michel Cazal.
Thanks to Kevin Christopher (Studs Up editor) for the use of his
personal material and John Punshon for the cross referencing of material.
For more details see credits.

The second leg of the Olympic games pre-qualifying
tie was played in Canberra. This was an Olympic Games Qualifying
match.

The second phase of Olympic Games qualifiers were
played in a round robin format involving Taiwan, New Zealand, Israel and
Australia. The games were spread between Australia and New Zealand with
the winner qualifying direct for the finals in Seoul. And, yes, there
were two Avi Cohen's on Israels side. This was an
Olympic Games Qualifying match.

The second "away" leg against Israel was played in
Christchurch, New Zealand. Again both Avi Cohen's showed up. McDowall's
red card was a result of him stepping on the head of an injured Israeli player
and he was subsequently banned until after the Olympics by the Soccer Federation.
This was an Olympic Games Qualifying match.

To celebrate Australias Bicentennary, the
Australian Soccer Federation organised a Gold Cup tournament. They invited
two very experienced international sides in Brazil and Argentina and an
up and coming side in Saudi Arabia. Played in a round robin format,
the top two sides would play-off in the final at the end of the series.
This was a friendly match.

Australia's third cup game was against Argentina.
The 4-1 win was something special against the high profile, World
Champion Argentinians and is often considered one of the best wins
by the Socceroos. With this "shock" win Australia qualified for the
Gold Cup final against Brazil. This was a friendly match.

Australia had qualified for the Olympics in
South Korea and their initial match was against Yugoslavia. However
since the European sides had restrictions placed on the players they
could select that match is in the 'B' archive. Having won against
Yugoslavia, Australia next played Brazil, who had beaten them 1-0 and
2-0 only two months earlier, so the arithmetic progression was maintained.
This match was an Olympic Games Finals match.

Australias final group match was against Nigeria.
An unknown quantity to the Socceroos, the Australians played well enough
to win and qualify second in their group and advance to the Quarter-Finals
to face the USSR. Again, being from UEFA, the USSR side was not the true
'A' team therefore that match is in the 'B' Archive.
This match was an Olympic Games Finals match.

The Socceroos regained the Trans Tasman trophy
with a 2-0 win over New Zealand in the unlikely venue of Bendigo in central
Victoria. The first goal came from a Spink shot, some sources credit him
with the goal. This match was a friendly match.

Following Australias shock loss in the away leg,
the pressure was on the home side to perform. They did, scoring five
goals and advancing to the next round of qualifiers 5-2 on aggregate.
This match was a World Cup Qualifying match.